Laundry conditioning tumbler



March 8, 1949. H. w. FAY 2,463,683

' LAUNDRY CONDITIONING TUMBLER Filed Aug. 28, 1947 INVENTOR. HARRY W FAY Patented Mar. 8, 1949 UNITED S TATES PATENT OFFICE 2,463,683 LAUNDRY CONDITIONING TUMBLER Harry W. Fay, Tuckahoe, N. Y. Application August 28, 1947, Serial No. 771,003

Claims.

This invention relates to shake-out or condition-ing tumblers. for loosening up compressed fabric material such as laundry coming from an extractor.

A=wide variety of deviceshavebeen devised for tumbling out laundry prior to fiat-work ironing. In general these. are in the nature of a rotating barrel into the interior of which the creased and compacted laundry from, a wringing means is introduced. and; tumbled so. as to loosen the fabric, to pull apart irregular-wrinkles and folds caused by compression in an extractor, and, in general, to loosen up the fabric and ready it for fiat-work ironing, These devices have greatly simplified the operation of preparing fiat-work for ironing; but have fallen, far short of desireduniform, effective, and consistent operation. Efforts have been made to remedy this difliculty by reversing the, operation. thereof, but these have been. found lacking both from the. standpoints, of effectiveness, efiiciency, and. economy of construction and operation.

Anobjectof thepresent invention is the provision of a, machine which will provide goods which are loosened out sufficiently so that the necessity for hand-smoothing is eliminated and which willv at the same time be efficient in operation and economical' to construct and operate.

Another object is to provide efiective means for continuously and speedily converting wet masses of laundered goods into, such smooth and dry condition that they-may be fed immediately into fiatwork. ironers.

Anotherobjectisto provide tumbler means of suchcharacter that-thenecessity of pushing the goods thru with poles is avoided.

Otherobjects: will inin part appear hereinafter;

Pursuant to-theinvention; means are provided for continuously" subjecting" laundry or other fabriczmaterial to a-plu'rality of varying rotative movements; and in certain of its more specific aspects; the invention contemplates subjecting such material tosuccessive" rotations in difierent directions. In accordancewith-the invention in various of its: more specific aspects, a succession ofidrums are ar-ranged with their lower runs inclined, with the lower run of; a successive drum under: the end of alower: run of' a. preceding tumbler; with projections on. the interior of j the.

drums; andwithia plurality; of: drums are. arranged: to recei've material' from. any upwardlypart' be obvious and will.

' right.

inclined delivery means and/or from a wringermeans.

The invention accordingly comprises thefeatures of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts, which will be; exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set: forth and the scope will be indicated in: the claims.

For a fuller understanding ofithes naturean'd'z objects of the invention, reference should: be had to the following detailed description: takenin connection with the accompanying: drawings; in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic; view-of one form. of laundry-processing means emb odying' the in.- vention; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective-view. on alargerscale-of; the tumbler means.

In the form of construction exemplified in- Fig. 1 there is provided-a continuous belt ID, the upper run of which is inclined. upwardly soas. to ole-- vate fabric material, as, for example, laundry from a washing machine or dye goods from adye. bath. In the present instance two pairs of extractionrolls precede the tumbler means, onepain of rolls Ill2 being adapted to receive goods from the belt l0 and another pair of rollsl3-'l 4 being adapted. toreceivegoods from .the-firstspair of rolls and deliver same to the tumbler means; It will be understood, however, that, in various: of the broader aspects of the'invention, goods may be delivered tov the tumbler means, more or less directly ,or in other. manners than. thatshown. Idler rolls I5 may-be supplied where and if necessary. The passage of. goods thru the-tumbler means may number of manners, but, as exemplified. and. in accordance V specific aspects, is accomplished by having the lower runs of the tumblers downwardly inclined; This may be accomplished by providing tumblers of frusto-conical shape with their larger ends forward or by disposing the tumblers with their axis downwardly inclined. In the presentim stance the apparatus embodies both suchfeatures.

The tumbler means exemplified comprises a tumbler 20 in the form of' a hollowrotatable barrel having an open receiving end'Zl and anopen discharge end 22. It rotates in a counter-clock wise, directionwhen viewed from the-right. Be yond it isa tumbler 25, having'anopen receivingend 26 and an open discharge endl'l. This rotate'sv in a, clockwise direction. whenyiewed from the. Its rear end 28 surrounds the forward:

of the application of which be accomplished in any of, a

with, the invention. in. its more end 29 of the tumbler 26 so that its lower run lies beneath the lower run of the tumbler 20. Beyond the tumbler 25 is a. tumbler 38 having an open receiving end 3| and an open discharge end 32. It rotates in the same direction as the tumbler 20. Its rear end 33 surrounds the forward end 34 of the tumbler 25 so that its lower run lies beneath the lower run of the tumbler 25. On the interior of each of the tumblers 20, 25 and 30 are projections 35 which, in the present instance, are button-like nubs which may extend about three-quarters of an inch from the inner surfaces of the tumblers so as to assure against undesired slipping of the goods under treatment. In an effective form of operation thereof there are employed tumblers having axial extent of ten inches and varying in diameter from twelve inches at the opening 2 l to nineteen inches at the'opening 32. Desirably and as exemplified the speed of the tumblers is increased along the series. For example the tumbler 20 may be rotated at an inside peripheral speed of eighty feet per minute, the tumbler 25 at ninety feet per minute, and the tumbler 30 at one hundred feet per minute.

The tumblers are supported on a stand 36 by means of roller bearings 31 and are driven from a suitable source of power thru the medium of pulleys 39 and belts 40, 45, and 50 extending respectively to the tumblers 2U, 25, and 31!.

The provision of a plurality of tumblers effectuates a much greater exposure of the fabric to drying air than would be the case with a single tumbler. In addition the use of variously rotating tumblers results in a very great multiplication of this spreading and exposing action. This is still greater when, as exemplified, the variation in rotation is of character wherein successive tumblers rotate in opposite directions.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, and a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum, said drums having different rotative factors so that a smoothing pull will be exerted on the fabric as it passes from one drum to another.

2. A tumbler arrangement comprising a. rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, and a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum, said drums rotating in opposite directions.

3. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, and a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-toend overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum, said second drum rotating faster than the first mentioned drum.

4. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, and a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-toend overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum, said drums rotating in opposite directions, the lower run of each of said drums being inclined downwardly a rearward portion of the lower run of the second drum extending beneath the forward portion of the lower end of the first-mentioned drum.

5. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum and discharging material at its other end, and a third rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the second drum.

6. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum and discharging material at its other end, and a third rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the second drum, each successive drum rotating in a direction opposite from the preceding drum.

7. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum and discharging material at its other end, and a third rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the second drum, said second drum rotating faster than the first mentioned drum, and said third drum rotating faster than said second drum.

8. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum, said drums having different rotative factors, and projections on the interior of at least one of said drums.

9. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum and discharging material at its other end, and a third rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into on d thereof fabric materials from said other d of the second drum, the lower run of each of said drums bemg inclined downwardly at n 1- tions of rotation, the lower runs of the second and 1 third drums extending respectively below the lower runs of the first and second drums, and projections on the inner surface of said drums, each of said drums rotating in a direction opposite from the preceding drum.

0. A tumbler arrangement comprising a rotatable hollow drum for conducting fabric materials from one end to the other thereof, a second rotatable hollow drum disposed in end-to-end overlapping relationship therewith for receiving into one end thereof fabric materials from said other end of the aforesaid drum, said drums rotating in opposite directions, the lower run of each of said drums being inclined downwardly, and upwardly inclined means for carrying fabric material toward the first mentioned drum.

HARRY W. FAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UN. TED STATES PATENTS Number 

